Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Core Campaign Book

[MrHemlocks]

Anyone ever ran a campaign or played in one using Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Core Campaign Book? If so how compatible is it for a DCC campaign setting? Would it be best to get the 4e version or the older one?

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/51494/Dav ... paign-Book

[Aplus]

I'm not really familiar with it, but generally speaking, d20/3E stuff is going to be more readily usable with DCC.

Personally, if I wanted to do Blackmoor, I'd use the old Judges Guild First Fantasy Campaign book, but that is purely a matter of taste.

[Ravenheart87]

Personally, if I wanted to do Blackmoor, I'd use the old Judges Guild First Fantasy Campaign book, but that is purely a matter of taste.

Now that you mention it, is it available in pdf somewhere? I didn't find it on DriveThruRPG.

[Galadrin]

I found the JG First Fantasy Campaign to be a fairly random assortment of stuff. Some of it was for a tabletop wargame scenario, other parts detailed a difficult to manage dungeon or even some pedantic descriptions of what Giants would carry in their inventory. There are useful bits here and there, but do not rely on it for a fully fleshed out setting. Interesting glimpse (with a few good anecdotes) into the early days of D&D though.

The Zeitgeist Games version, however, is really quite good. I would definitely pick up the d20 version instead of the 4e one, though. I believe Zeitgeist Games is no more, so who knows where the money goes. If you are canny, you can take a peek at the book online before committing to buy it. Even if you do not plan to read it very deeply, flipping through the book gives you enough inspiration to jump start your imagination. Blackmoor is a very tense, creepy setting with a good amount of horror and classic D&D hack and slash adventuring.

[Gameogre]

I find that the 3.5 or 4E versions of Blackmoor are better for running a game in. After all you are mostly wanting to lift the fluff and those editions had more fluff to lift.

Blackmoor would be a almost perfect fit for DCC RPG. The Egg of Coot begs to be converted into a patron.

[finarvyn]

Blackmoor would be a almost perfect fit for DCC RPG. The Egg of Coot begs to be converted into a patron.

Indeed, this is the case. Blackmoor is very "Appendix N" in nature, and thus a great candidate for DCC. (Along with the Judges Guild Wilderlands setting.) Blackmoor is also one of my great passions in gaming, so apologies in advance if I ramble on the topic.

First Fantasy Campaign is one of my favorite RPG books of all time -- perhaps second only to my brown book OD&D rulebooks -- but as has been noted it's not really fleshed out as a campaign. What it does (for me) is gives me a bunch of cool ideas and inspiration when ever I get rpg "writer's block." It also has the first 10 levels of the dungeons under Castle Blackmoor. Quite a lot of good stuff, really, for a single book under 100 pages in length. The Blackmoor setting of the FFC was also retooled a little to fit in the northern lands of the Wilderlands setting, so you can combine the two if you want a more complete world.

For an early-D&D feel, there are four DA-series modules from TSR. Those are pretty cool and have nice maps. The main d20 Blackmoor rulebook from Zeitgeist Games is also worthwhile. I think that the d20 sourcebooks are less useful to me, although they are well done. I bought 4E Blackmoor to "complete my collection" but essentially have never opened the thing.

In other words, for me Blackmoor is better in "feel" the earlier you go, but better in detail the later the product. I find the best way to run Blackmoor is with a map and a copy of FFC and I "wing it" a lot, but if you want more structure then I'd suggest the d20 core rulebook as your starting point.

Hope that helps.